... so to me if you have a passion for hunting turkeys and love to talk about and share your knowledge i'll call you a pro

With regard to me, at least, that's very generous of you.

Steve

When [url="http://www.EverydayHunter.com"]"The Everyday Hunter"[/url] isn't hunting, he's thinking about hunting, talking about hunting, dreaming about hunting, writing about hunting, or wishing he were hunting.

I feel Jim Casada never meant to offend anyone. In turkey hunting the term "EXPERT" is used with the knowledge that no one in this sport is really an expert! Everyone gets duped by birds no matter what their experiance, knowledge, number of kills, or weather they hunt on public or privete property. But in the world of turkey hunting there are those who have been considerd "Experts" for one reason or another. Every sport need a hero of some sorts. Someone to look at and say " hey! I want to be as good ,or better then him". To be honest I can't think of a more frustrating sport then turkey hunting. It gets under your skin and causes both heartache and joy. And as turkey hunters we tend to embrace both. We brag about success and tell stories of difficult birds that get the best of us. And those who are in this sport eat it up! Why? Because we are all looking for that tid bit of information that might help us out the next time we hit the turkey woods. Weather it be what someone did to reach success or what someone did that resulted in defeat. Articles like the ones that Jim and the other writers put out there serve that purpose. There will always be different opinions about what someone writes. One look at the forums here will tell you that! But Before we take offense to something that is written read it again from a different perspective.You just might find the idea that the writer was trying to convey.

If it gobbles,runs on gas, or is married to you it will give you trouble!

do'nt dissagree with that swpatrkyhunter my hero was ben lee i think i mean if you watch the hunting shows the 'pros' are most always hunting at some privite ranch using their sponsers gear they make it sound that if you are'nt getting a bird you're not doing it right and how many times do they shoot a jake just to add to their numbers. that being said i do enjoy all of casada's articles and the the rest of the writers as well i'll stand by what i said before as long as you have the passion for all that is turkey you're as good as any 'pro'

I Relize I may have jumped the gun... I am a little touchy sometimes when it comes to private land turkey hunting and public land turkey hunting... This is the first time I've ever heard of this 2 dozen turkey expert term... My appology's to Mr. Casada...

I am glad that you went back and reread what Mr Casada Wrote and realized he wasn't insulting anyone! Turkey Hunting like anything else has a learning curve which is normally described the way Mr Casada described it as "The Two Dozen Turkey Rule". After you have harvested a couple dozen Gobblers you will have the knowledge and experience that it takes to harvest Mature Gobblers on a consistent basis.

I tend to agree and disagree with you on the Private Land vs. Public Land. This has been debated over and over again and will probably never be settled!

I can take you on Public WMA Land in Florida that is just as good and probably better than any Private Land (Paid or otherwise) that I have hunted on. I can also take you to Green Swamp WMA to hunt some of the toughest Gobblers in the State of Florida and probably IMO the United States. If you kill one in this WMA regularly you will become a local legend and have to be a very good Turkey Hunter! I have also hunted on some Private Land that was as you stated "was almost easy". I have also hunted on some Private Land that was touted as being very good and having a lot of Turkeys and didn't see or hear a Turkey while we were hunting there! I guess what I am trying to say is that the quality of hunt is all relative to the amount of Turkeys that are on the Property, Weather Conditions (i.e. Wind, Rain, Cold, Hot etc. etc.), Hunting Presure, Stage of Breeding Cycle the Turkeys are in, Mood of the Turkeys on any given day, etc. etc.

I apologize for chiming in on this one so late, but just have to respond in defense of Pressured Gobblers (PG). There is a terrible trend in both hunting and other shooting sports in that there is some sort "right of passage" that someone must obtain to be accepted, believed, or taken seriously. I don't know what this threshhold is for turkey hunters, but I know in many peoples minds, it does exist, and for some stupid reason.........its important. Is it 100 turkeys, or maybe 200 turkeys? The answer is that there is no threshold, its just a personality disorder some have with numbers. I have more money, or more cars, or more women, than you. And as dumb as that sounds, just think how dumb it sounds when you put it into the context of hunting. I have killed X amount of turkeys or deer....who cares. Whitetail hunters are the worst and it is starting to infest turkey hunting. The bottom line is this, if Mr. Casada's article alienated one person, its one person too many. We need to be more inviting to all who participate in our sport. I can count on one hand the # of turkey hunters that are younger than myself. Articles like Mr. Casada' s don't help. I don't care what his "intentions" were or were not, it sounded a bit Wilt Chamberlainish..........so no need to retract your first impressions PG, I think Mr. Casada would probably like to have a few of those sentences back if he could.